Reid agrees with study on Yucca Mountain alternatives

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Harry Reid agreed Friday to yield to the Obama administration in organizing a study commission for nuclear waste.

The deal between Reid and Energy Secretary Steven Chu answers one of the questions as to what the next steps will be as the Senate majority leader from Nevada pushes the administration to put the Yucca Mountain Project in its rear view mirror. President Barack Obama has said he opposes the Yucca site and is open to other options.

Under the agreement, Reid will shelve a bill he and Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., introduced this month that would have congressional leaders create a nine-member commission and embark on a two-year study into alternatives to Nevada nuclear waste storage.

Instead, Chu will move forward to appoint a commission and set its direction using his administrative powers.

Reid said in a statement that going with Chu's panel would "allow us to move more quickly." It would avoid a lengthy fight in Congress, where lobbyists for the nuclear power industry had warned they would oppose giving Reid, the Senate majority leader, powers to appoint the commission chairman, as the bill had allowed.

The deal was sealed in a half-hour meeting between Reid and Chu in Reid's office in the Capitol.

"The work of that commission will help us chart a new path forward that safely and responsibly addresses nuclear management," Chu said in a statement.

The Energy Department had no additional comment on the meeting.

It was not immediately clear how the secretary's group would be shaped.

He has said previously he was moving to have a study group report back within a year.

Senate aides said afterward that Reid has been assured he would have some input as Chu assembles the administration's study team.

One of Reid's goals has been to ensure that a study commission, presumably to be formed with a level of independence, could not double back and reopen the door for nuclear waste disposal in Nevada.

Both Reid and Chu seem to agree the study group would be directed to evaluate advances in nuclear waste management in the 25 years that previous administrations had focused on geologic disposal in Nevada as the solution. Those could include pushing forward with research into waste recycling while keeping spent nuclear fuel at nuclear reactors for longer periods, or establishing one or more regional storage complexes.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., had been planning to introduce a study commission bill in the House, but will put it aside for now, her spokesman said.

Contact Stephens Washington Bureau Chief Ed Vogel at evogel@ stephensmedia.com or 202-783-1760.